When I first heard that I would be doing Spanish, I was scared but yet excited. Since I had not done any work with this language in almost 8 years, I forgot most of the SpanishI was taught in secondary school. Although I had little knowledge of this language, I hoped that what I knew would aid in the successful completion ofthis course. During the duration of the course,I realized that most of what I had forgotten was slowly being recalled by related topics in our sessions.
When Ms. Wilburg announced that most of her work will have to be done online and all the work must be done using computer applications, I thought, “where will I find the money for this?” At first, I was worried that I will never be able to afford this course and may have to repeat it next year. But after speaking to my father who assured me that he would send a computer, since I did not have one, my projections for this course became hopeful again. Even though my dad bought the computer in early October, there was still the problem of getting it to Guyana.While waiting for the computer to arrive, I struggled to find the finance to complete assignments. I found myself spending a lot of time at internet cafés and at friends’ houses to complete my assignments. Unfortunately, my computer did not arrive until 12th of December; Just in time for me to complete the assignments that were due on 14th &16th. Now that I have the computer, there is still the problem of not having internet access. The experience was great;however, I must take into consideration the expenses that came with doing all of our work via computer. This made studying truly difficult since most of the information that was needed was on the internet. Sadly, I did not always have internet access.
Putting my financial situation aside, I truly enjoyed this course, although the work seemed more that I can handle at times; seeing that we always had assignments or tasks to complete for Spanish and all the other subjects. I realised that Spanish was taking up most of my study time, leaving me with barely enough time to study and complete other assignments. This challenged my time management and pushed me to work harder.
During this course I had the opportunity to gain knowledge, not only for Spanish but information that can be used for other subject areas. I was privileged to be able to exhibit my creative side, since we were tasked with an assignment to create pop-up books, and socks and paper bag puppets. When we were finished, we were shown the many ways in which we can use the puppets and the pop-up book to enhance learning. I truly appreciated when Miss would give hand outs and stand in front of the class and explain the work. I found it easier to learn through that method than I did reading the information off of the internet. The only thing that I disliked about this course was the fact that it was computerized and demanded so much of my time and money.
The information for the course was well organised and presented on the website. Ms. Wilburg was strict and her no nonsense attitude ensured that we always behaved like teachers in training. She always emphasized that we were responsible for our learning. Taking her attitude towards our learning into consideration, I would say that her course was fully equipped to assist us in learning.
Thank you Ms. Wilburg